Poultry News

Jollibee Opens Largest Poultry Plant in Philippines

PHILIPPINES - Jollibee Foods Corp said Tuesday it opened a poultry processing plant in Batangas province, the largest in the country, to meet increased demand for its top-selling fried chicken.

The facility in Sto. Tomas town can process 45 million chickens per year and can provide dressed and marinated chicken to Jollibee, the company told the stock exchange.

The plant is operated by Cargill Joy Poultry Production or C-Joy, a joint venture between Jollibee Foods and US-based Cargill. The country's largest fastfood operator announced construction of the facility in May last year, ABS-CBN News reports.

Chickenjoy is among Jollibee's top-selling products, drawing food lovers here and abroad, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who swung by a Jollibee branch on his way to a Pacific Rim leaders' meeting in Manila last month.

The plant investment came 3 years after Chickenjoy fried chicken briefly disappeared from its stores due to a "systems upgrade", causing the hashtag#Chickensad to go viral.